


Soul Bound

by F1uffyTurtle



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Abuse, F/F, TW: Mentions of abuse, ghost au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-24
Packaged: 2021-03-26 08:14:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30102948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/F1uffyTurtle/pseuds/F1uffyTurtle
Summary: At the end of all things, there is the soul.Luz is bothered by the fact that she can't return to the human realm after she destroyed the portal when she gave it to Belos, She now is out to seek any avenue that can bring her back just so she can see her mother at least one last time.Amity is being chastised by her mother after her crush on Luz has been found out.Emperor Belos is now out searching for something that can finally bring the portal running to its full potential.
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Emira Blight/Viney, Willow Park & Skara
Comments: 10
Kudos: 20





	1. Prologue: The Burning Man

**Author's Note:**

> I was completely expecting to have this entire thing plotted out when I started posting this, but I honestly got a bit too excited.
> 
> This is my first fanfic that i ever really published on AO3, however if you have any questions or criticisms, feel free to leave me a comment.
> 
> This chapter is a little short for my tastes, though it does make sense since it is more of a setup for what is to come.
> 
> Hope y'all are ready for some torturous reading, because I sure am not! :D
> 
> Thanks to my friends Fangbjorn, MBlackluster, and Hazuki for beta reading this chapter for me.

The clouds roiled overhead as the pitter-patter of raindrops hit the ground and evaporated on impact. The headstones in particular were crackling under the immense heat of the boiling raindrops that plagued the weather of the Boiling Isles for what seemed to be millennia now.

_What am I to do now?_

Thunder rumbled across the sky, causing the ground to quake under its immense sound as the lightning illuminated a cloaked figure leaning against a headstone. Raindrops sizzled upon contact of his skin, yet he barely moved or winced upon the burning pain that coursed through him. What does it matter to him? He was used to it. He clenched at his chest and took a deep breath. With his finger, he drew on the muddy ground, slightly uprooting the already wilted foliage of the graveyard and muttering under his breath.

_How am I going to see you again?_

_He promised me that I would see you again._

_He promised me…_

Tears rolled down his cheeks as he tapped on his drawing, causing the ground to illuminate before it died down again. A moment passed, then two. The man sighed.

_Another failed experiment, I guess..._

He grabbed at his chest again and proceeded to tug on his collar. His hand slid over to the top hem of his tunic and as he was pulling it down, it showed grafts of burnt skin that oozed and stung especially under the humidity of the boiling rains. He rummaged around, and grabbed onto a broken chain that trailed up to the cold iron shackle that wrapped around his neck. He unclasped the link that he fashioned for it and undid the shackle from his neck which that, as well as his face, remained untouched from the burns that trailed through the rest of his body. He made another mark on the collar with his fingernail. He shifted his weight under his legs and leaned his shoulder against the headstone. As he scratched at it, tears pooled up faster than he could wipe them away from his face. His breathing grew rapid. He gripped at the headstone, his knuckles going from red from the immense heat, to a cold white.

A foot slid along the stone path nearby. He picked up the headstone and chucked it with a force that was akin to that of an abomination. The unsuspecting figure dove out of the way before the stone impacted the cobble pathway before shattering.

“Sir, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to startle you!”

It was a guard of the Emperor’s Coven.

“Look, if you needed some time alone, I understand, but the Emperor gave me strict instructions to watch after you at all times. He doesn’t want to have to send you to the Conformitorium again, sir.”

He looked at the guard intensely for a moment and he raised his arm to smack him. The guard flinched and cowered into a ball. He paused for a moment before shakily lowering his arm.

“My apologies, sir." The figure chuckled. "However, if I would care to inform you,” He picked up the guard and tossed him onto the crude glyph he drew in the mud, “This shit is delicate work!” He grabbed at the back of his head and picked it up out of the mud.

“You see this glyph, sir? It was informed to me by your lovely Emperor that our target had recently rediscovered it. It’s slow, methodical. Can it be used efficiently?”

“Y-y-y-yes sir!”

He shoved the guard’s face further into the mud before plucking it again like a turnip that was gripping into the arid soil. The force field that was holding the rains back from the guard dissipated and the downpour started hailing towards him. The burned man gave a twirl of his finger, casting yet another one above them. This didn’t stop from some droplets stinging at the guard’s back, causing him to wince. The figure let out a deep sigh that he didn’t know he was holding and looked back at the muddled guard who was convulsing between sobs.

“Yes, but it’s still very fragile. One line out of place can ruin the entire spell.” He looked back to where the headstone once was and back down to the guard.

“I’m sorry for treating you this way." He sighed. "You don’t deserve this cruelty. Not from me. Not from anybody.” He started digging his nail into his other palm, dragging it along as blood trickled down his wrist.

“I-I was just d-d-doing my job, sir.” The guard shuddered, “I hope you understand.”

“Yes... of course I do. I was treated very much the same before. Had an… _employer_ who treated me poorly, but I was very happy to do whatever they said. It’s really tragic that we have those who would do anything to get what they want by controlling people. Tell me, Steve. What stake do you have in this? Who did the Emperor use as leverage against you to take control of me? To gain control of you?”

The guard rolled around on his back and looked at the man curiously. “Why?”

“Well, I want to make a deal with you, Steve. It’s that simple.” He smiled as genuinely as he can muster, but it faded as quickly as he put it on. “I want to offer you your freedom. I want to free you from your hold from the Emperor’s Coven. Not to make you coven-less of course. That would be illegal. No, I want to relieve you of the burdens that come from working with the man."

  
His bloodied hand started glowing.

  
  
"You can have as much power as you want. You can be with whomever you want.” He stopped for a moment.  
  
“But… what's the catch?”  
  
“Well, you have to promise me that you would offer the same to whomever you want to be with.” He sighed nonchalantly.

Steve cackled at the statement. “There is no way that you can offer anybody that kind of power! Only the Emperor is that powerful and even then, he gets his from the Titan. What can you offer me that can be any more than that?” The figure sneered and extended his bloodied hand towards the guard.

_“Why don’t you see for yourself?”_

The guard was taken aback by the statement. The burned man exuded so much confidence. Could he really be offering what he’s saying? Freedom from the burdens of the coven? That would mean being able to cast as much magic as he could. He would be unlimited to the possibilities. He would be able to be with Lilith, if she were to notice him, of course and give him all the shoulder pats. He would be free of Belos’ influence. But what does he mean that he wouldn’t be coven-less? Is he offering him to join a coven of his own? What game was he playing?

“Alright, I’ll bite. I’ll take you up on your offer.”

“Of course, sir. Enjoy the freedom that nobody else will be offered in life.”

Steve took the man by the hand and light had burst from the glyph that he drew on his palm. He shielded his eyes as the light and encapsulated the entire area. The burned man took in a deep breath and opened his eyes once all had settled. He waited for his eyes to adjust before looking down at Steve. His body was limp, only being held up by his arm that the figure held onto. The shine that was in the goggles on his mask was not there anymore. He was dead. The burned man smiled _._

_At least that worked._

_Now it’s time to get our actual work done, Steve._

_Belos be damned._


	2. The Heart's Desire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm honestly getting a little bit excited while writing this. Who knew that writing fanfiction would be as fun as it is?
> 
> I made a whole playlist for the fic, if y'all would like to give it a listen. No particular order, just vibes.: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0451NcaYELr5oEGj7HPeoq?si=4edd88115711457e
> 
> I would personally like to thank Androktasiai and regalkasherai for your absolutely amazing comments on the last chapter as well as everybody in The Good Witch Society on Discord. You guys have really made me come out of my shell (pun entirely intended) and got me inspired to continue my trek into writing. I really hope I don't disappoint.
> 
> I would also like to thank Fangbjorn and Hazuki again for beta reading among a few others such as MaskedMaverick and LunaNight2012. I would also like to thank JuliaCorvia for giving the song at the end of the chapter their seal of approval as well as QuirkQuartz for their blessing on the song as well.
> 
> I was honestly so excited that i almost posted this entire chapter on Monday rather than Wednesday like I promised.
> 
> Hope y'all enjoy the pain!
> 
> ~F1uffyTurtle

_Okay, I’ll give it one more try._ Luz thought to herself.

She had been practicing on this particular glyph for almost the entire school period that she was afraid to admit that she wasn’t paying attention. Does time always move faster whenever you’re trying to figure something out? That question didn’t seem too important to her. She drew a few wavy lines on her sheet of paper, hoping that it would make some semblance of sense when it came to the glyph itself. She looked around and tapped on the torn up notepad for the umpteenth time. There was a small flicker coming from the lines, only for the page to disintegrate in an instant.

_Pedazo de mérida! Jodete estupido papel!_

Luz let out a heavy sigh and set her pencil down. Her ears went a little bit red. In theory, if it were to work, someone would be able to hear that. It was embarrassing enough that she had to explain that she was speaking in a different language, but it would be even more embarrassing for her to explain that she was basically cursing the glyphs that didn’t even work. She looked up towards the professor at the front of the class.

He didn’t seem to be eye-catching in the slightest; she just didn’t have anywhere else to look. If the other abominations teacher was here, she would just be looking at the abomination that was carrying the stout, cloven-foot man, wondering how he was able to create an abomination in ways that she couldn’t. She had to use separate ingredients for hers due to the human’s lack of a bile-sac like witches on the Boiling Isles had developed. Her mind wandered over to that, wondering how they could have evolved. I mean, they did have access to the human realm before, surely there must have been some way they have crossed paths in the past and the ancient Wild Witches could have learned to carry magic on their own.

Her heart sank. She relayed that thought again in her head; the human realm.

It had been two weeks since she had given up the portal to Emperor Belos and destroyed it so he wouldn’t have a chance to use it for whatever he had planned. He must have wanted it badly if he harassed Eda so long for it. Had tried to petrify her just for the chance that he could use it. Had lied to Lilith just so he could get Eda in his grasp just to cull the last known Wild Witch on the Boiling Isles.

She’d given up her only way back home. She’d given up the chance to ever see her mom again. The thought had never really sunk in just yet. She just wanted to let her know that she was okay.

“Ms. Noceda?”

“Er... yes, sir?!” Luz jolted out of her trance and knocked the contents of her desk into the air, reaching out to catch them, only to end up on the floor. The teacher snatched the notepad and the pencil from the air in one swift motion. People in the class stifled a chuckle or two and Luz couldn’t help but feel her face burning.

_Yes sir? Really, Luz?_

She picked herself up and took the notepad and pencil that he was holding out, trying to avoid making eye contact with him. He gave a small snicker himself.

“Apologies, Luz. I didn’t mean to startle you while you were daydreaming, however this is a _class_ and you are here to learn, correct?”

Luz’s brow started to furrow. Of course she was here to learn. Why else would she have snuck in once or twice with Willow and Gus just to find out what a magic school was like? Why else would she have begged Eda time and time again to get her to enroll and possibly risk getting thrown in the Conformitorium again for being a wild witch out and about in the Isles? They were lucky that Principal Bump never really was too much of a stickler for Belos’ laws and even more lucky that Luz had nudged him with the help of the Detention Track kids to allow the students to pick more than one track when learning at Hexside.

“Of course I am.” She glowered at him as she crossed her arms over themselves; almost rivaling the smug grin that the substitute had plastered over his face, or at least what parts of his face that she could see. Not only did he practically tower over the teenager, but he was wearing a steely-blue scarf over the lower half of his face and spectacles that glared in the daylight that showered inside the classroom.

The substitute turned back towards the chalkboard. “Then tell me, Ms. Noceda, if you were paying attention, then _clearly_ you can tell me what ingredients a witch would use to make an abomination’s strength rival that of one in the Construction Coven with a Power Glyph attached to the caster?”

“You can’t; the power of an abomination matches the strength of the caster combined with the ingredients that make it up. The witches in the Construction Coven can’t make them because their own power is locked off from making abominations of their own. You could use a Griffin’s egg as a base, shell and all, to bind the other ingredients together; the starch of some Screaming Brorne would be able to work it into a plaster-esque paste with the other fillers such as gravel and mold them around an armature to work around with, this can be made of anything from the most fragile of wooden branches to a steel pole. Once the abomination is molded, we then cast the consciousness spell to, of course, give it consciousness and the armature will dissolve with the structural integrity intact.”

Sweat beaded from her temple, she was so lucky that she had taken theater, or at least attempted to, when she was younger, or else she would have not been able to memorize all of that from her studies with Amity. Even then, she was surprised she even retained all that information. The substitute shot a glare at the human and shut the textbook that he was reading over with a _snap_.

“Mighty impressive Ms. Noceda, almost as if you wrote the textbook yourself. However, I’m not allowed to deduct points for any blatant plagiarism, yet I can clearly see that you haven’t even brought your textbook this time. You have a keen mind indeed, human.”

The school bell then screamed and Luz let out an exhausted breath that she didn’t even think that she was holding in. That was surprisingly tense. She could feel her chest loosen up once she heard that sound that had become so familiar – as grating as it was – over the past month. Everything began to tense up again as she felt a tug on her shoulder and she spun around, raising her arms up in a karate-chop stance. She lowered them as she saw Amity backing away from her, clearly startled by her sudden movement. They both laughed. The substitute barked some orders as everybody started pooling out of the classroom, but Luz didn’t hear any of it. She was honestly looking forward to the rest of the day.  
  
~~~

“So what was up with Mr. Almade getting in your face like that?” Amity inquired this after they had walked down the hallway for some time. They were headed towards the toothy lockers that lined the walls of the inner corridors of the campus. She had kept the question to herself for quite some time because she felt the air grow heavy around the two as he leered over her. It was almost creepy in a way and she wanted absolutely none of that.

“Ugh! I don’t know! Honestly, he’s such a big jerk, I don’t get why they picked him to replace Mr. Hengemyr. At least he was a lot nicer… and had a better sense of humor.”

Amity chuckled as she remembered “Like that one time he laughed at your a-mom-ination joke?”

“ _Exactly_!” Luz shouted louder than she had intended, but from the look on her face, she didn’t seem to care at this point.

“Well, clearly, he might like you.”

Luz gasped “How _dare_ you, Ms. Blight! I am horribly flabbergasted by your _insinuation_!” She put on the most over-the-top posh voice that she could muster and Amity laughed so hard that she started blushing.

“You know, with acting like that, it was a wonder that he didn’t figure out that you were posing as an abomination before _I_ did.”

“And you decided the best way to handle that was to have Principal Bump dissect me.”

Luz laughed at the comment she made, but Amity couldn’t help but feel her heart sink a little. She was glad that at least Luz could laugh about it now. That was basically how she met her, so she was glad that they have at least mended their friendship up to that point. If it wasn’t for Luz’s persistence, Amity wouldn’t have thought about how she treated the other people around her. How she treated Willow, how her parents had forced her to be around bullies such as Boscha and her clique just because they were friends with their parents. It rang in her head again.

_Good children don’t squabble, dear._

_Blights only associate with the strongest of witchlings._

Blight.

The more and more she thought about it, the more and more she hated it. Not because of how it sounded, but because of the expectations put on her. How they wanted her in the Emperor’s Coven so badly that Amity even called it “Her Future.” How they wanted Amity to uphold the social reputation of the Blight family just so she could look like the perfect decoration set aside the two “perfect” parents and her two older siblings who always managed to get away with whatever shenanigans that they thought up. In retrospect, they are teenagers. She always had to be the one who was the more mature sibling in the household, despite being the youngest.

Amity cracked a smile at the human, the one person who had shown her the light.

_Luz._

_I wonder if it means “light” in her language._

_My beautiful, little light._

“Hey, Amity!” Skara shouted so loudly next to the green-haired witch’s ear that she fell over, scrambling to back away before seeing the bard-track witch.

“Oh, hey! Skara! I thought you would be with Boscha?”

“No, she started getting all nutty after her Grudgby match with Willow. I mean, I know that she _hates_ her. Whoo! Never mind that, hate is too strong of a word… um… _dislikes_ her, but that don’t mean that she has to get up in our faces about it, you know?”

Luz nodded. “You said it.”

Skara looked over at the human and beamed. “Oh hey, human!” She said as she waved her hands excitedly.

“It’s Luz.” Amity and Luz said in unison.

“Oh! Sorry, Boscha keeps on calling you that, so I didn’t have anything else to really _call_ you.” She let out a nervous laugh.

Luz cackled at the nervous wreck. “It’s all good, I get it.”

She scratched at Amity’s locker and its gaping mouth opened, its tongue sticking out laying out an array of other textbooks that the green-haired witch placed her abomination textbook next to. The demon scooped up the textbooks and rolled its tongue back into its toothy maw, closing it up before giving a hearty belch. Luz had always been so fascinated at all the wacky demons that replaced ordinary items in The Boiling Isles.

Skara looked around the pair for a second, squinting. “Have you guys seen Willow around at all?”  
  
Luz’s eyes widened for a moment. “Not since Botany, I haven’t. Why do you ask?”

Skara looked away from the human, her cheeks growing flush. “No reason, it’s just she’s all cool and I wanted to get away from Boscha for a bit and maybe work on that project that we’ve been assigned in Fundamentals of Songwriting -.”  
  
Luz gasped. “YOU’RE GOING TO WRITE A LOVE SONG FOR WILLOW!”

If Skara wasn’t already flustered thinking about hanging out with Willow, she definitely was now that the human even suggested, let alone point out that she had a crush on the plant witch. “It’s not a love song; I just wanted to hang out with her is all. She’s just… nicer. She actually looks out for her friends. That’s something I never really got.” She sighed.

“I mean it’s not like I don’t have an abundance of friends, but it would at least be nice to actually know that I’m cared for or whatever, you know?”

Amity’s heart sank as Skara said that. Yeah, both of them have been a part of Boscha’s clique, but she was always the one who got the brunt end of everything. If it wasn’t for her natural charisma and the fact that her parents were as far up the ladder as theirs were, she probably wouldn’t have been accepted, let alone be as popular as she was. Maybe if she were nicer to her, things would have turned out differently for the bard.

“Well, hey. Regardless, we’ll be looking out for you.” Luz reassured the witch as she gave her a small smile. Skara returned the gesture and took in a deep breath.

“If that’s the case then, I’ll continue looking. It’s been nice seeing you guys.”

Luz and Amity returned the gesture as the bard disappeared into the hallway. Once she was out of sight, Amity let out a small chuckle.

“What?”

“A love song? Yeah, she’s definitely got a crush on Willow.”

“Oh yeah, she has one big time. Though, it’s not exactly a love song. It’s more of a calming spell that you have to write and you have to write it with the intent of performing it to someone that you’re really close to.”

“Okay, but still if she were to write it for Willow, they aren’t exactly close. And plus, didn’t it not work out between her and that one guy she asked to Grom?”

Luz shrugged her shoulders. “I honestly wouldn’t know anything about that. I’m not exactly in-the-know about this sort of stuff. Hey, speaking of, have you had any progress on who you wanted to ask out to Grom?”

Amity turned her face away as she felt it grow warm and she grabbed at her shoulder. How was she supposed to tell her that she wanted to ask Luz out? That if it wasn’t for the fact that she was chosen as Grom Queen to fight Grometheus, The Fear Bringer and Luz insisting that she would fight for her in her stead, then she would have actually given that note to her. Who was she kidding, no she wouldn’t. Grom read her fears and tore up the note in front of her. All while looking like the human. Not resembling exactly what she looked like. Her messy, short brown hair; her hazel eyes; her brown lips that she had wanted to kiss so hard for over the past month now. Grom only looked like an amorphous silhouette compared to the actual human and nothing like what shape it took for Luz's fear. The shape of her mother.

She never bothered to ask the human about it. She didn’t want to pry. What would she think if she pried into something like that and then asked her out once she actually had the courage? Would she even forgive her? Would she forgive her for all the stuff that she has done to the human in the past? She was lucky that Luz even pried into her heart just to be friends with her, given that it was definitely unconventional since she tried to do it by hanging out with Edric and Emira first and they tried to use Luz just so they can nab her diary. She doesn’t deserve that, but maybe she should thank her siblings for bringing her into her life. No. They would endlessly tease her for it. Amity gave a sigh.

“No. Not yet.”

Luz gave a supporting smile that made Amity’s heart feel like it was about to burst out of her chest. “Well, I hope whoever it is, they would say yes.”

_I know I would._

That’s what Amity wanted so desperately for the human to say to her. It felt like it would have come so easily through her lips. Luz took her hand and she couldn’t help but return the smile that she was given. If only she knew that all she wanted was to be in her arms at that exact moment.

“Maybe I could help you write a song for them!”

Amity’s vision flickered back into focus as she tried to process what the human said. “Wait, wait. Are you sure? I’m not sure if you noticed, Luz, but I’m not in the bard track. And even then, I’m not all that musically gifted.”

That last sentence was a lie. Her mother had bought a grand piano for the servants to play about ten years ago and she would sneak in the music room while they were playing to play with them. Agreus, the particular bard that they hired for the music room along with their troupe was glad to teach her all they knew and she was ashamed to admit that she started writing piano pieces herself. Her mother was never keen that she did this and eventually fired those servants from the manor, yet the piano remained. Amity didn’t know why she kept it there. Maybe it was to remind Amity that whenever she would want to practice again, she would prove to herself that she was nothing more than a disappointment in her mother’s eyes. After all, interest in what could be a different track will lead to mixing magics and according to her mother: that was the greatest sin against the Emperor and against the Titan himself. Another thing that the human fought hard against, literally pushing her way through so she could be in literally every track that Hexside has to offer.

“Well, not to brag, but I’m pretty good myself. I’m pretty sure that we could figure out something to sweep them right off of their feet.”

“What about your project?” Amity asked her. “Don’t you have to write something yourself? And what about the fact that you can’t cast magic naturally? It’s not like a musical instrument acts like its own staff.”  
  
“That’s why I have these babies!”

Luz pulled out a couple of teardrop shaped, flat pieces of plastic that had a small glyph carved into them. They were still easily readable which is really surprising considering how hard it was to even draw something that tiny.

“These can enhance the emotional output of any musical instrument and use that to cast spells from a distance away; doing anything from repelling or possibly killing the biggest monster to putting the widdlest baby to sleep.”

Amity laughed at the most adorable face that Luz put on when she said that. “How exactly would you use that? I don’t know any instrument here that can be played with that. Or is that the instrument itself?”

“Oh! Yeah, we have this instrument that we use on Earth all the time called a Guitar. It’s this stringed instrument that my mother used to play for me all the time when she would put me to sleep as a baby.”

Luz’s face drooped for a second. She missed her mother more than anything. If it weren’t for the fact that she had a little more than a month to go back to Earth, her mother would be worried sick for her. A little more than a month before she had to admit to her that she was lying to her own mother that she was at a summer camp that would try to make her “normal” and not inciting trouble at her old school for being weird. She faked a smile and looked back at Amity.

“I’m pretty sure I can find one at The Owl House that Eda decided not to sell at her human collectibles stand. Even after we destroyed the portal, she still has quite a few things lying around. I’m pretty sure I’ll find one.”

“Wait, you did _what_ to the portal?”

Luz just realized what she revealed to Amity. She hadn’t seen her since she broke her leg at the Grudgby match and she had just recently recovered a week ago. The healers on the Boiling Isles really do work quickly. She was pretty sure that Boscha was the one who broke her leg by throwing herself at her as they were trying to make the final play, but she didn’t bother looking further into that to avoid further conflict. After all, she wanted to make sure that Amity was okay before doing anything about it. And even then, Amity asked her not to get into it once she got her cast removed.

“I mean,” Luz’s voice grew shaky, “Uh… Can we talk about this, you know, not here?”

The two witches walked out into the courtyard of the campus as Luz relayed everything that happened while she was breaking Eda out of the Conformitorium to stop her from getting petrified by Belos and The Emperor’s Coven. Lilith the curse she cast on Eda, Lilith’s explanation for the curse and her resentment for what happened, Belos lying to Lilith and outright refusing to heal Eda’s curse deciding instead to petrify her, Belos and his request for the portal. He said that he wasn’t going to invade the human world, but Luz couldn’t take any chances regardless and slapped a few fire glyphs on the portal as he was given the portal and let the human go and free her mentor. She used Eda’s staff to activate the fire glyphs and just like that, the portal was no more. Tears trailed down her face as she reminisced about her last visit to the human world as she was fighting with Lilith before she gave her explanation and they never stopped since.

Amity let out a deep sigh as she finished listening to the human. “That’s… a lot to take in.”

The human nodded and wiped the tears from her face.

“Do…” Amity asked, “Do you miss it? The human world I mean.”

“I miss _mi mama_. I promised her I would be back. That I would be back in three months.” She stifled a small chuckle. “She thinks I’m at a summer camp somewhere, doing taxes or whatever.”

Amity didn’t know what the human was talking about. Summer camp? Taxes? Regardless, it didn’t sound pleasant.

“I just wish I can find a way to go back now. I wish I could see her again.”

Tears trailed down the human’s face and she wiped them from her face again. Her pace began to quicken.

“I have to go, Amity. Eda would yell at me if I left her to clean Hooty this month.”

And with that, she left the green-haired witch. She wished that she could help her. But that would mean letting her go. That would mean that she would possibly never get to see her again. Of course it was like her that the one girl she fell in love with was only here on a time limit.

~~~

Luz walked along the tree line of the forest, soaking in the red leaves that adorned them. She needed to catch her breath in some way.

_Lo siento, mama. Desearia poder verte._

She stopped for a moment and sat down to lean against a tree to be alone with her own thoughts. Being on the Boiling Isles before was everything that the teenager ever really dreamed about, even now. From the demons that resided there that wanted to eat her almost every week to the Isles’ version of weather; albeit they are more natural disasters. Eda had only mentioned stuff like Shale Hail and Painbows before, but she was lucky to never see them. Only Gorenadoes and Boiling Rains.

She remembered the first time it rained on the Isles. She was so excited when the dark clouds started rolling in. Both King tried to warn her before she went out, but he didn’t even get out a few words before she stepped outside the Owl House just to feel that familiar trickle of the first few drops in her hair. She looked over to a tiny flower just to see it wilt from the overbearing heat of the rains before Eda came rushing in from her night out at Bonesbourough just to shout at Luz to get inside.

She remembered Eda crashing up inside her room, flopping over to the nest she made for herself. Not a pillow-fort and thousands of comforters and plushies sort of nest, but an actual nest with twigs and moss among other things she found shiny and beautiful. In fact, that’s where she kept some of her favorite things from when she was still collecting trash in the human world just to repurpose and sell them at her stand. She always found the old witch’s favorable items to be a bit unorthodox, mainly due to the lack of knowledge that the witches of the Boiling Isles had for humans, let alone their world in general. She found Luz’s ingenuity and knowledge of her home realm admirable and decided to take her in to first help with her stand. A few shenanigans later, and Luz decided to stay with Eda and King so she could learn to become a witch regardless of her natural inability to cast magic.

She remembered when she first learned of Eda’s curse that night during the boiling rainstorm and how she rampaged through the house as the Owl Beast. She remembered finding out about the elixir that was more or less her medicine and reverting her back to normal for the time being. Now that Lilith hadn’t exactly _healed_ Eda, but shared the curse with her instead as an attempted remedy for her past actions, she wasn’t exactly sure whether or not the Owl Beast was going to rear its head in again.

Her mind wandered to Lilith. Eda’s sister. She remembered being so excited to learn that Eda even had a family to begin with, let alone a sister that she would banter with whenever they were around each other. That hasn’t exactly changed since she moved into the Owl House, they still bicker a lot. She wondered if all siblings are like that. Edric and Emira teased Amity almost constantly; however they were pretty much her bullies. Almost like Amity was when they first met, picking on Willow when she was back in the Abomination track at Hexside rather than the Plant track where she was so naturally gifted. She was afraid that when she released those vines inside of Hexside when she first snuck in, the entire building would have imploded on itself.

She was glad that Amity was a lot better now. She couldn’t help but shudder at the thought of leaving her now. They had gotten along together so well after The Library Incident with Edric and Emira. They talked almost constantly that now she doesn’t know if she could ever see the island again if she wasn’t there. Even if she was a ghost that she could talk to, Luz would have gladly stayed just to be by her side.

A rustle in the bushes sounded across from Luz.

She scrambled up to her feet and rummaged through her satchel to reach for any glyphs that she prepared during the day. Where were they? She knew she put them in there somewhere. She peered into the satchel to find all the glyph papers tossed around the contents of her bag, tucked in between books and under them. She made a not that that was the last time she kept them in her bag. She wasn’t even sure if they worked now. She grabbed one that was sticking out of the page of a textbook. An ice glyph, that’ll do. She slapped the card down onto the damp soil. The card shimmered in a white-blue light before a large ice shard popped straight from the glyph and suspended a Hexside teacher in midair.

_Mierda!_

“Oh! Are you okay?” Luz cried out. “I’m so sorry; I didn’t mean to do that. I thought you were here to hunt me down or something.”

She lifted the teacher off of the ice shard that went right through the hood of his cowl and placed him down on the ground without breaking a sweat. Brown shaggy hair fell in front of the teacher’s face before he parted it like a curtain, revealing the wrinkled mug of the Abomination substitute.

“Mr. Almade! Heyy!”

“No need for pleasantries, Ms. Noceda. You nearly had me killed!”

Luz bowed her head solemnly. She just wanted to protect herself.

“But, however, that was an impressive feat of strength there. I nearly thought you were an abomination with how easily you plucked me off of that spike. I would be even more astounded by what abominations that you _can_ make on your own.”

Luz opened her mouth to speak, but quickly shut it. Why did he even say it like that? Was he trying to imply that Luz _can’t_ make an abomination of her own? What absolute _nerve_ does he think he has for even condescending to her? And why her? She picked up the scraggly man who was surprisingly a lot heavier than he looked. Aside from the layered tunic and cloak that he wore, there was nothing on him to make him heavier than he actually was. She assumed it could be the scarf, however that made no sense to her.

“Well, to let you know, Mr. Almade, I’ve made quite a number of abominations of my own. Yes, maybe the first one was with a little bit of help, but the others -.”

“The one that you were helped with was made by Ms. Blight yes?”

Luz stood agape at the Abomination substitute, every word going through her brain, failing to even travel to her mouth.

“She is quite a prodigy herself. Suffice to say, you have become quite a master at the craft yourself from what I’ve seen. But is that skill really your own or one that you stole from the people around you?”

“What does that even mean?” Luz finally managed to scream out the words that had been hanging over her lips. “Of course I have my own skills, I rediscovered a lost magic and I’m learning more and more about it every day! What right do you have to even say that kind of thing to me? You’re supposed to be a teacher not some bully to beat down on other kids!”

“Oh, dearest child,” the teacher sighed through his scarf and dug into his sleeve to pull out a card and slap it on a tree. It twisted and contorted into a massive plantlike abomination whose branches sharpened. The bark splintered apart to reveal a gaping mouth with large, gnashing teeth. “You aren’t the first.”

~~~

Had Blight Manor always been this empty?

Amity walked the empty lavender granite corridors and traced her hand over the marbled patterns. She took in a deep sigh. Why did she now only realize that Luz wasn’t always going to be here?

She had been walking aimless around the manor for about an hour now. Her parents weren’t going to be home for another few hours or so, considering they had an extended summons from the Emperor himself.

The Emperor! She could only imagine how Luz feels about him especially after what he did to Eda. She wasn’t even sure if she wanted to be in the Emperor’s Coven anymore. Like she wanted to in the first place; for her parents it always seemed like everything that they were pressuring her to do was not only to further their reputation by having her hair forcefully dyed by them, but to get her into the Emperor’s Coven and force her to take her place at the top of the social ladder. As if they believed that she was worthy of any of that; As if she even cared about the social ladder to begin with. And now that contempt had been brought into focus by Luz.

Every time the thought of her floated into the Blight’s mind, she winced in pain and tried to wipe away any tears that would come streaming down her face. She wasn’t even sure if it was even worth it to pursue a relationship with her now. Maybe it was a waste of time.

Amity leaned on the mahogany hand railing as she trailed up the stairs to the foyer balcony and entered her room. It wasn’t small in the slightest, but not exactly a master bedroom either. It had enough to fit her twin bed and the rest of her set pretty well with some room for a few shelves to spare which she hung up with multiple posters, including one of Lilith in a profile view, staring directly at her as she is leaning over the hilt of an intricate sword with a smug grin on her face. The picture had a gilded border around it with the words “Join the Emperor’s Coven Today!” written under it.

Over the time since she asked her parents to hang up that poster in her room, she grew more and more discontented with it. The more she looked at it, the more she grew angry, sometimes talking to the poster as if it was Lilith herself that was mocking her. She only wished that she could have talked to Lilith like that in person whenever she was her mentor. And now she was excommunicated from the Emperor’s Coven because Belos lied to her and she acted accordingly. Her parents would definitely say it was her who betrayed Belos, but it really was the opposite to her. She wanted to shove all of her hate for the Emperor’s Coven and what it had done into Lilith’s face, but now that she isn’t the face of the coven, it wasn’t really worth it. She tore down the poster anyway. It’s not like her parents would care. She was a traitor anyway.

Amity threw the now crumpled up poster across her room and she watched as it knocked over the keepsake box that she kept on the windowsill. Realizing what she had done, she leapt over to the window and caught the keepsake box before it hit the ground and let out a sigh of relief.

She looked at the box with a longing almost purging her throat in a fit of sobs. She managed to keep it held back as she went over it. The box itself was as teal as parts of her hair that hung down the lowest part of the half-ponytail that she always wore with a letter “A” engraved on the lid. Gilded rivets acted as the box’s hinge that kept everything that she had found dear to her for the past few years.

She opened the box and took everything out one by one and lined them up on the windowsill. The tiara that she received when she and Luz defeated Grom; she remembered that night like it was yesterday and not around 3 weeks ago. A stack of photos of her and the rest of the group that Luz hung out with; they had become her dearest friends as much as Luz’s, especially now that she was mending her issues with Willow. Gus is a lot of fun to hang around, though to her, he can be pretty overbearing sometimes. And plus, he was two years younger than everybody else, so that made things a little more awkward. She talked to kids before, she read to them in the library and they were always super sweet to her. Though with Gus, it’s different. He had skipped a few grades and proved to be one of the smartest people that she had ever encountered, using his illusions to get them out of whatever sticky situation they got themselves in, if it wasn’t to use it for general fun. He is still a kid after all. How could she talk to a kid like that without condescending to him? That’s something that she would have to work on later.

Amity pulled out the last item and her heart sank. The torn up Grom-posal note that she wanted to give to Luz. She took it from the forest and stuffed it inside her chest along with her tiara that night. Why must her crush have to hurt her so much? Why did she have to leave? Tears finally managed to break the surface of her face and they started to pool up under her chin as the dripped down onto the rug and soaked into the fibers. She got up with the pieces of the note in her hand and walked back down the steps and back into the endless twisting maze that was the manor she lived in.

She didn’t know why she didn’t rip up the note into smaller pieces. She wanted to hold onto it for as long as she could. Maybe it was because she wanted to hold onto it for as long as she could? Or maybe she just didn’t have the energy? Neither excuse really felt convincing to Amity as she continued to traverse the manor; until she ended up in that room.

The grand piano stood in the middle of a large carpeted area of a much larger room with bookcases filled with books containing various sheet music that Agreus used to play the various works that either he or other notable composers wrote. There were even the few that Amity stuck inside the books with the scrawled writing that she made back when she played with him. A few other instruments laid out about the room, all put away neatly along the walls, but they never really stuck out for Amity. She took to the piano and sat on the stool as she brushed the dust off the keys that had lied dormant there from the years of neglect.

She thought for a moment. Should she really be doing this? She looked back to the note and remembered what Luz said.

_Maybe I can help you write a song for them!_

She couldn’t help but smile at Luz’s obliviousness. All she wanted was for her to stay. It may have been selfish of her, but she just wished that she could help the human while being with her at the same time. She ran over some scales on the piano, sounding fairly rusty as the hammers pounded on the strings.

Her hands trailed up and down the keyboard as she got lost in the music she started to improvise. After a while, she took in a deep breath and looked back at the note lying on the music stand. Her left hand started to make pulses on the keyboard as she felt all the pain and yearning that she felt swell over her. After a few bars, she started to sing from the deepest parts of her heart.

_I was certain_

_From the day we first met_

_That our worlds will not cross_

_And I won’t regret_

_Those times that I hurt you_

_They seemed bittersweet_

_But you came around_

_And brought me to my feet_

_I won’t stop shaking_

_And my heart keeps aching_

_I couldn’t believe_

_That you would ever leave_

_I’d still let you go_

_But my heart says no_

_Please don’t go_

_When the boiling rains_

_Turn into snow_

_Please don’t go_

_And leave the memories_

_We made before_

_When you hold out your hand_

_And you take hold of mine_

_My heart starts to yearn_

_And I find myself pleading_

_Please don’t go_

_Don’t tell me that_

_I won’t see you_

_Anymore_

Her breath grew shaky as she trailed along the keys. It wasn’t the best playing, still considerably an amateur to any bard out there, but she never thought about that. All she thought of was Luz. She thought of Luz and how she brought her out of her funk. How she was the sole reason that she was even happy to begin with. How she realized just how much she wanted to be out of her parent’s grasp.

_“Little Miss Perfect_

_Do you understand?_

_That you’re meant for greatness_

_There’s no time to stand_

_So don’t be distracted_

_Just take the abuse_

_All you are meant for  
_

_Is a puppet to use.”_

_I won’t stop breaking_

_Out my heart_

_That’s quaking_

_I still can’t believe_

_That you looked out for me_

_I want to let go_

_But they still scream no_

_Please don’t go_

_When the boiling rains_

_Turn into snow_

_Please don’t go_

_And leave the memories_

_We made before_

_When you hold out your hand_

_And you take hold of mine_

_My heart starts to yearn_

_And I find myself pleading_

_Please don’t go_

_Don’t tell me that_

_I won’t see you_

_Anymore_

Amity’s tears pooled up in her eyes as she started pounding over the keys. The frustration swelled over her. All the pain that she went through surged through her fingertips. All the longing, all the exhaustion that she felt coursed through her body as she practically belted out.

_When time flashes by_

_Were you there by my side all along?_

_And when my face starts to flush_

_Would you even suspect_

_The love that I felt for you_

_Was even a prospect?_

_But even then_

_I can’t let go_

_My heart screams no_

_Please don’t go_

_When the boiling rains_

_Turn into snow_

_Please don’t go_

_And leave the memories_

_We made before_

_When you hold out your hand_

_And you take hold of mine_

_My heart starts to yearn_

_And I find myself pleading_

_I CAN’T LET GO_

_I WON’T LET GO_

_PLEASE DON’T GO_

_I CAN’T GO_

_I CAN’T GO_

She stifled a breath as she left the note sustained in the air. She let out the one thing that she didn’t want Luz to hear. That she didn’t want herself to hear. What would her parents say if she ran off with her? Not even that, but what would she even do? Her fingers hovered over the keys as she softly laid them down on the next chord.

_Please don’t go_

_I can’t follow you_

_Into the snow_

_Please don’t go_

_I’m too selfish_

_That, I already know_

_But when you crack a smile_

_Or when you make a joke_

_My heart starts to ache_

_And I nearly choke_

_Please don’t go_

_Don’t tell me that_

_I won’t see you_

_That I can’t see you_

_That I would never see you_

_Anymore_

Amity softly pressed the keys on the piano to resolve the last chord and everything that had flushed over her lingered in the air. A mix of relief and sorrow hung over her as she closed her eyes and let out a sigh. A slow clap sounded behind her.

“Brilliant performance, darling; however you out of everybody in the house know the rules against using that old thing in the house.”

Amity spun around in the piano stool as she looked straight at the woman that she feared the most. The naturally dark green mane of hair that normally trailed down her back was tied neatly into a tight bun. Cold, unfeeling eyes stared back at her as she tensed up and bowed her head.

“Yes, mother.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations:
> 
> Pedazo de mierda! Jodete estupido papel = Piece of shit! Fuck you, stupid paper!
> 
> Mi Mama = My mom
> 
> Lo siento, mama. Desearia poder verte. = I'm sorry mom. I wish I can see you again.
> 
> Mierda! = Shit!
> 
> LOOK AT THAT, WE FINALLY GOT SOME GAYS!
> 
> Skara in particular quickly became one of my favorite characters to write in this chapter because of how absolutely bubbly she is on her own. I promise y'all she is going to be playing a major part in the story and not just there for B plot.
> 
> Amity's song in particular which I titled "Please Don't Go" was an absolute labor of love that I wrote on the 21st. The melody just kept on playing in my head over and over again that I just had to write it down. When I finished the lyrics, I couldn't help but cry my eyes out because I was feeling Amity's absolute yearning myself as I was writing it. I'm currently in the middle of writing a transcript for the song on sheet music, so that song will definitely be attached to this or later chapters sooner down the line.
> 
> Thanks again to the Good Witch Society for all the support. Go to the link here ( https://discord.gg/5CueHkK9 ) if you want to be a part of a great community.
> 
> Next Wednesday  
> Chapter 2: Scrying of the Soul

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks you for reading!
> 
> And thanks again to Fangbjorn, MBlackluster and Hazuki for beta reading the chapter. Certainly more to come.
> 
> Planning on posting the true first chapter next week.
> 
> Chapter 1: The Heart's Desire


End file.
